S.C. Code Regs. § § 114-530

Current through Register Vol. 48, 12, December 27, 2024

Section 114-530 - Family Child Care Homes

A. Definitions.

Terms used in South Carolina Regulations, Chapter 114, Article 5, Part A, shall be all definitions cited in Section 63-13-20 et seq., Code of Laws of South Carolina in addition to the definitions which follow:

(1) Application: An original or a renewed request for registration or license of a family child care home requiring a completed Department application form, completed Department inspection study, current criminal history background checks on all required persons, and other related information deemed necessary by the Department to make a determination of issuance or non-issuance of a new or current registration or license.

(2) Caregiver: The operator of a family child care home and any person, including household members, whose duties include direct care, supervision, and guidance of children in a family child care home.

(3) Central Registry of Child Abuse and Neglect: An automated, computerized listing, maintained by the Department containing the name(s), address(es), birth date(s), identifying characteristics and other information about an individual(s) who has been listed on the registry due to the determination of perpetrating abuse or neglect upon a child.

(4) Child: An individual, from birth through twelve (12) years of age (chronologically), receiving care in a family child care home, or up to eighteen (18) years of age if the child qualifies as special needs.

(5) Child with special needs: A child with a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more major life activity, a history of such an impairment, or a perception by others of such an impairment.

(6) Complaint: A written statement reporting unsatisfactory conditions in a family child care home.

(7) Corrective Action Plan: A contract between the operator and the Department wherein the operator agrees to follow a plan of action to correct deficiencies where the Department determined the operator failed to meet South Carolina child care licensing laws or regulations.

(8) Department: The Department of Social Services.

(9) Emergency Person. An individual not regularly employed by the facility who is immediately available to serve as staff in the facility during emergency situations.

(10) Family Child Care Home: A facility within a residence occupied by the operator in which child care is regularly provided for no more than six children, unattended by a parent or legal guardian, including those children living in the home and children received for child care who are related to the resident caregiver. However, an occupied residence in which child care is provided only for a child or children related to the resident caregiver or only for the child or children of one unrelated family or only for a combination of these children is not a family child care home.

(11) Household member: A person who resides in a family child care home, maintains clothing and personal effects at the household address, and/or eats or sleeps at the household address on a regular basis.

(12) Infant: A child age twelve (12) months or younger.

(13) Injunctive Action: Proceedings initiated with the appropriate court of law requesting the court to order a person to do or cease a specific action.

(14) License: A written notice issued by the Department for a two-year period to a family child care home approving the commencement of operations of a family child care home in accordance with the provisions of these regulations and Suggested Guidelines for Operators of Family Child Care Homes.

(15) Operator: The person eighteen (18) years or older, who lives in the home and has signed and submitted a Department application form and other requirements to the Department in order to obtain a family child care home registration or license. The operator has the ultimate responsibility of the family child care home and must be the person in charge of supervising the children in the family child care home.

(16) Overnight Care. Care provided to children by the family child care home defined in these regulations from 1:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m.

(17) Parent. The biological or adoptive mother and father, legal guardian of the child or individual with legal custody of the child.

(18) Registration: A written notice issued by the Department for a one-year period to a family child care home approving the commencement of operations of a family child care home in accordance with these regulations.

(19) Regularly or on a regular basis: These terms refer to the frequency with which child care services are available and provided at a family child care home in any one week; these terms mean the availability and provision of periods of child care on more than two days in such week.

(20) Related: Any of the following relationships by marriage, blood, or adoption: parent, grandparent, brother, sister, stepparent, stepsister, stepbrother, uncle, aunt, or cousin of the first degree.

(21) Renewal: Granting an extension of registration or license.

(22) Revocation: To void the regular license of a family child care home.

(23) Sex Offender Registry: A statewide and national computerized listing of names and other identifying information on convicted sex offenders maintained and updated by the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) and authorized by Section 23-3-400 et. seq., Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, amended. The National Sex Offender Registry, established under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, Pub.L. 109-248, requires anyone convicted of a criminal offense against a victim who is a minor or a sexually violent offense to register as a sex offender.

(24) Staff. Full-time and part-time administrative, program, service and volunteer personnel, including emergency persons.

(25) Supervision: Care provided to an individual child or group of children. Adequate supervision requires awareness of and responsibility for the ongoing activity of each child, knowledge of activity requirements and children's needs and accountability for their care. Adequate supervision also requires the operator and/or staff being near and having ready access to children in order to intervene when needed.

(26) Training: Participation by operators and caregivers during the calendar year in workshops, conferences, support groups, educational or provider associations, formal schooling, in-service training or planned learning opportunities provided by a child day care operator, director, other staff, or consultants. Training shall be age appropriate for the child population served by the family child care home and in such subject areas related to: child care, child growth and development, and/or early childhood education, nutrition, infection control/communicable disease management and causes, health and safety, signs and treatment of child abuse and/or neglect. Training for operators may also be in areas related to day care program administration and shall include alternatives to corporal punishment.

(27) Volunteer: An individual parent, grandparent, other professional or skilled individual artist or crafts person at least sixteen (16) years of age infrequently assisting with the daily activities for children in a family child care home who provides services without compensation and who is supervised by an operator or caregiver at all times when providing direct care to children. An individual meeting this definition is subject to compliance with the same applicable regulations as paid family child care home caregivers.

(28) Withdrawal: To void the registration of a registered family child care home.

S.C. Code Regs. § 114-530

Added by State Register Volume 48, Issue No. 05, eff. 5/24/2024.